Life in the Spirit (Galatians) with Tom Schreiner (AMCL 2024 Talk 5)

In this episode in the fifth talk in his series, Dr Tom Schreiner continues to explore the Book of Galatians—this time, discussing what life in the Spirit looks like for the Christian, as opposed to life in the flesh.

Dr Tom Schreiner delivered the Moore College Annual Lectures in August this year on the subject of “The battle for the truth of the gospel” in the Book of Galatians. He is the Associate Dean for the School of Theology and the James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation and Professor of Biblical Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kentucky, USA.

Tom's lecture is followed by a Q&A session.

For more audio resources, visit the Moore College website. There, you can also make a donation to support the work of the College.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to the Moore College Podcast, a podcast of biblically sound, thought-provoking and

(00:14):
challenging talks from Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia.
In this episode, in the fifth talk from his series, Dr Tom Schreiner continues to explore
the book of Galatians, this time discussing what life in the Spirit looks like for the
Christian, as opposed to life in the flesh.
Dr Tom Schreiner delivered the Moore College Annual Lectures in August this year on the

(00:36):
subject of “The Battle for the Truth of the Gospel” in the book of Galatians.
He is the Associate Dean for the School of Theology and the James Buchanan Harrison
Professor of New Testament Interpretation and Professor of Biblical Theology at Southern
Baptist Theological Seminary in Kentucky, USA.
Tom's lecture is followed by a Q&A session.

(00:57):
We hope that you find the episode helpful.
So would you turn with me before we invite Dr Schreiner to come and lecture to us?
Turn with me to Galatians chapter 5 and verse 16.
So I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

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For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary
to the flesh.
They are in conflict with each other so that you are not to do whatever you want.
But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law.
The acts of the flesh are obvious.

(01:40):
Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord,
jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness,
orgies and the like.
I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom

(02:05):
of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control.
Again such things there is no law.
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

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Since we live by the Spirit let us keep in step with the Spirit.
Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should
restore that person gently.
But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.

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Carry each other's burdens and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.
If anyone thinks they are something when they are not they deceive themselves.
Each one should test their own actions.
Then they can take pride in themselves alone without comparing themselves to someone else.
So each one should carry their own load.

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Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the Word should share all good things with
their instructor.
Do not be deceived.
God is not mocked.
A man reaps what he sows.
Whoever sows to please the flesh from the flesh will reap destruction.

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Whoever sows to please the Spirit from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
That is not become weary in good doing.
For at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those

(04:00):
who belong to the family of believers.
Let us pray together.
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word.
We thank You for its life-giving and nourishing character.
We thank You that You use it to shape us into the likeness of Your Son.

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We thank You for the opportunity we have to think deeply about Your Word this morning
and for our brother who has prepared this lecture for us.
We pray, Father, that as we engage with Your Word now, You might keep us from all distractions
and that You might cause Your Word to sink past our ears to our hearts and minds, that

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we might be shaped by it to Your glory.
We ask all of this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Amen.
Will you join with me in inviting Dr. Srinan to come and give his lecture?
Well, thank you so much.

(05:06):
It's been such a delight to be with you.
Thank you for the warm reception for me and for Diane, my faculty, students.
It has truly been a delight.
And I love the model of Moore College, which is a theological, exegetically rooted, a pastoral

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as well.
I think that is a wonderful model for theological education.
Yes, I've been gashed on my face.
It wasn't some person attacking me on the street, but it was a self-inflicted wound.

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I did not cut myself like the Galatians' false teachers to become more pleasing to God,
but there it is.
One other thing I want to say before I begin, let me just say a word about the series in
which this book will appear.

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This is on Galatians.
It's a New Testament theology series published by Crossway.
It's a biblical theology book.
They're accessible.
So if you think of the New Studies and Biblical Theology series edited by Don Carson and now
being picked up by Ben Glad as the editor, it's really in terms of accessibility, a cut

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below that series.
And we cover every book of the New Testament.
I just want to say what I said on the first day.
My co-editor is an Australian, Brian Rosner, and we have several Australians contributing
to the series.
I've already mentioned the excellent volume on Mark by Peter Orr.

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You should all buy that.
Then I want to mention Brian Rosner.
I just received his Romans this week.
That's also excellent.
Most of you know Claire Smith.
Claire Smith is her volume on the pastoral.
I don't think it's seen the light of day yet, but it'll be coming out very soon, another

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outstanding volume.
And then, maybe, you know, I just have such a bad memory because I read them in PDFs.
Andrew Malone did first and second Thessalonians.
And of course, there are many other fine volumes.
One of my favorites is by my son, Patrick Schreiner.
He did acts, so, I mean, it's fabulous.

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What can I say?
So, anyway, so, here we go.
Life in the Spirit, introduction.
Paul and Galatians emphasizes that justification doesn't come through the works of the law,
but through faith in Jesus Christ.
The focus on grace could lead us to think that the transformation in new life of believers

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wasn't a major concern.
But we see from Galatians 513 through 610 that the new life of believers was also important.
Some scholars have maintained that Paul didn't prepare the Galatians adequately for their
new life as Christians when he first evangelized them.

(08:28):
Hans Dieter Betts says this, for example.
But this is quite unlikely.
We read in Galatians 521 that Paul had told them in advance that those who practiced the
works of the flesh will not inherit the kingdom.
If Paul had warned them about this danger previously, it is clear that he was concerned
from the beginning about the moral life of the Galatians.

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And presumably this means that he instructed them on the contours, the specifics of a life
pleasing to God.
We have to seek then a better explanation for the admonitions we find in this section.
Again, you follow my train, I'm pretty traditional in my reading here.
It is more likely that Paul anticipates a possible overreaction to his teaching on grace

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in the letter.
He realizes that the Galatians might respond to the freedom from the law in a way that subverts
the gospel.
They might receive Paul's message as an invitation to live licensuously.
Such a response would constitute a misunderstanding of the gospels of grace as if it promoted

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a life bereft of ethical righteousness.
Thus Paul explicates for them what the new life looks like for those who have embraced
the good news of the gospel in a very brief compass.
There's much more to say.
We can think of what Paul wrote in terms of his ethical admonitions and his paranetic

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material in the other letters.
So the power of the Spirit.
The life of freedom is a life lived by the power of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit plays
a major role in the letter.
We read in Galatians 5.16 that believers who are justified by grace are to walk by the
Spirit and to resist fleshly desires.

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The metaphor of walking signifies that Christians depend every step of the way on the Holy Spirit
for help in living a way that pleases God.
The Spirit empowers believers so that they do not yield to fleshly desires.
We see from 5.17 that the call to live by the Spirit isn't easy.

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A battle rages between the Spirit and the flesh.
And the fundamental opposition between the Spirit and the flesh is highlighted.
The flesh here represents what believers are in Adam, the unregenerate nature of human
beings.
The flesh can't be restricted to the body, but represents human beings and all their

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fallenness.
How to interpret what Paul is saying in 5.17 is quite difficult.
It can be read as if there's a stalemate between the Spirit and the flesh so that Christians
live in a kind of no-man's land.
Such a solution isn't convincing.

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Intense conflict characterizes Christian existence, but Paul's optimistic view of the Christian
life and the rest of Galatians 5 and 6 rules out the notion that we have a mere stalemate.
In some ways, this verse, that is 5.17, reminds us of Romans 7.14 through 25, where the struggle

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with sin is described so poignantly.
The text can be compared to Romans 7 in that the conflict that characterizes Christian
experience is featured.
I suggest that we should not read Galatians 5.17 to say that the Spirit conquers the passions
and lusts that flow from human beings.

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Paul isn't talking about perfection as if human beings are entirely free from sin.
Sin bedevils us until the final day of redemption, and perfection will not be ours until the
day of resurrection.
Still believers have a new orientation, a new direction, a new pattern, a new power in

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their life since they are a new creation.
This fits with Galatians 5.18, where those who are led by the Spirit are not under the
law.
We have already seen in an earlier lecture that those who are under the law are under
the power of sin.
The optimistic character of Paul's view of the Christian life shines through.

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Those who are governed and directed by the Holy Spirit live in a dramatically new way.
The opponents claimed that the moral life would only be enabled by the law, but Paul
contends that those who rely on the law for righteousness actually are giving sin a platform.

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Interestingly, the fundamental need of human beings isn't for moral instruction, but for
power, and that power comes from the Holy Spirit.
Thus believers must not put themselves under the law.
They are called upon to give themselves to the Holy Spirit and to allow the Spirit to
govern and direct their lives.

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When that happens, believers will live in a way that pleases God.
We should not conclude from this that believers don't need commands.
The point is that the law without the Spirit kills.
That the law can't transform our character.
That's what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3.6, the letter without the Spirit kills and the

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Spirit gives life.
So now the fruit of the Spirit and the works of the flesh.
Paul contrasts the fruit of the Spirit with the works of the flesh in Galatians 5.19-23.
We should note first of all that the fruit comes from the Spirit.
This means that the new life of believers is supernatural, that it has a divine origin,

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that it can't be produced by the moral effort of human beings in their own strength.
I don't know if you know this reference, but it's the United States centric, but I always
say we do not improve morally following the Ben Franklin approach, where he worked on

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a virtue every day, if you're familiar with that.
At the same time, the listing of the works of the flesh clarifies what it means and
what it looks like to give oneself over to evil.
Paul remarks that the works of the flesh are evident.
They are not mysterious.

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They are not difficult to identify as if one needs some kind of special insight to discern
what is from the flesh and what is from the Spirit.
Identifying the works of the flesh isn't limited to a spiritual elite, but it's obvious.
That's what he says.
It's obvious, right?
It's evident.
To all who have moral sense, the works of the flesh can be divided into four categories.

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First, three different terms are used for sexual sin in 519.
Those who engage in sexual sin are energized by their selfish will, by which they use others
for their own pleasure instead of living to help others flourish.
Sexual sin, according to Paul, defiles, defaces, and it deforms human beings.

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Such lack of restraint, such lack of control over our body shows that we are living only
for ourselves.
Second, two terms are used for idolatry in 520.
Idolatry and sorcery represent an attempt to manipulate life without submission to the
rule and sovereignty of God.

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Human beings turn to false gods because they are worshiping the creature rather than the
Creator.
That's why we have the word idolatry in 521.
This is what we call idolatry.
The idolatry signifies that we are Lord over our own lives, that we are living independently
of God.
Third, and most remarkably, eight sins are listed from the social realm.

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Far the majority here, right?
Eight sins.
Things like jealousy, hatred, fighting, fits of anger, dissension, and bitterness are named.
The remarkable emphasis on social sins suggests that this is Paul's major concern in the
Galatian congregation.

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We also learn from the concentration on social sins that the flesh can't be restricted to
sins of the body.
The flesh doesn't merely refer to sexual sin.
In fact, the focus is on sins that alienate human beings from one another.
The selfishness of human beings manifests itself in quarreling, in mutual submission, and dislike.

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Churches may be doctrinally faithful and yet be torn to pieces by gossip, and slander,
and hatred.
Fourth, the last two sins have to do with drunkenness and wild parties, 521.
In such situations, human beings often lose control of their faculties, opening the door
for behavior that inflicts damage on others and on oneself as well.

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Furthermore, those who give themselves to such a way of life reveal that their lives
are governed by their own pleasures and desires.
Instead of depending on God for joy, they give themselves to stimulants.
If the works of the flesh are obvious, so is the fruit of the Spirit.
It is difficult to know if the singular fruit, carposs, is important exegetically in contrast

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to the plural fruits.
If the singular is intentional, Paul emphasizes the unity of the fruit of the Spirit with
the singular form, indicating that they can't be parceled out into nine different fruits
as if we work on just one fruit at a time.
That's the Ben Franklin approach, right?

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Even if the singular fruit should not be pressed for meaning, even if we don't depend on the
singular, the fruit of the Spirit can't be isolated in such a way.
When one is walking in and led by the Spirit, all these qualities exist in the lives of
believers.
We are not surprised that the first fruit listed is love, since love is the most important

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evidence of life in the Spirit.
If we take a bit of a side role, we recall that those who love fulfill God's law, in
Galatians 5, 14, 5, 13, and 14, Romans 13, 8, through 10.
Plus, love and Paul's knot binds together all the virtues.
That's what he says in Colossians 3, 14, that binds all the virtues together.

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What the Corinthians really needed in their arguments over food offered to idols, 1 Corinthians
8 through 10, and in the contention over spiritual gifts, think of 1 Corinthians 13, was love.
The first quality named in Paul's virtue list, he begins a virtue list in Romans 12, verse
9, not surprisingly the first quality that is listed as love.

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Paul also emphasizes in Galatians that faith expresses itself in love.
Galatians 5, 6, love is the fruit of faith.
The fundamental command for husbands is to love and to cherish their wives.
Ephesians 5 and Cautians 3.

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The entire Christian life can be described as a call to walk in love, Ephesians 5, 2.
When Paul prays for the Philippians, a prayer we should all be praying regularly, he asks
that their love would increase along with discernment and knowledge.

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The goal and aim of Paul's ministry, that the lives of believers would be characterized
by love, 1 Timothy 1, 5.
Some of the qualities mentioned in Galatians 5, 22 can be explained as manifestations of
love, maybe all of them, but some more clearly.

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For example, in 1 Corinthians 13, 4, patience and kindness are evidence that one is acting
in a loving way, and patience and kindness are listed as fruit of the Spirit in Galatians
5.
Patience is deeply selfish because it demands that others hurry and get out of the way so

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that we can carry out our desires.
Impatience says, my schedule is the most important, and your priorities in life are
irrelevant to me.
When we are kind, we are attending to the needs and sensitivities of others.
Faithfulness and self-control can be distinguished from love, but there is certainly a close

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connection since those who love are loyal and dependable.
We can count on them to fulfill their promises and their responsibilities.
Conversely, those who lack self-control tend to be reckless and undisciplined, spreading
misery wherever they go.
Not all of the fruit of the Spirit, of course, can be equated with love.

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For instance, joy and peace aren't the same thing as love, but they stand in contrast
to the crabbiness, irritability, moodiness, and anxiety that weigh down our lives.
Those who are walking and being governed by the Spirit are joyful and contented, trusting
God with the course of their lives.

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Paul declares, there is no law against the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5.23.
His point is that the law can't produce a life that is beautiful and pleasing to God.
Only the Holy Spirit can transform, shape, and empower human beings so that they live
in a way that God intended human beings to live from the beginning.

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March and step with the Spirit.
Next heading.
We have seen that believers are urged to walk in the Spirit, Galatians 5.16.
Be directed or led by the Spirit, Galatians 5.18.
And that fruit only comes from the Spirit, Galatians 5.22.
In Galatians 5, 25, and 26, life in the Spirit continues to be rehearsed.

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Believers are exhorted to keep and step with the Spirit.
And the verb here, stoikao, has a sense of marching in accord with the Spirit, taking
the orders of the Spirit.
Probably in contrast right to the stoikao, the elements of the world here.
Now what marching and step with the Spirit.

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The call to keep and step with God's Spirit is rooted in the indicative work of God through
Jesus Christ.
Those exhorted to march and step with the Spirit are those who have new life by the Spirit.
Paul is not appealing to human autonomy or human strength as if we have the potential
and capacity in and of ourselves to keep and step with the Spirit.

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Only those who already live in the Spirit, only those who are already justified, only
those who already have new life have the ability to keep and step with the Spirit.
We have a clear example here of the indicative and the imperative, where the indicative is
the foundation and basis of the imperative.

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In other words, the imperative can only be carried out because of the indicative.
What do I mean by the indicative?
What God has done for us in Jesus Christ, saved us, redeemed us, justified us, adopted
us.
That's the indicative, what's already taken place, the imperative or God's commands.
So in other words, the imperative can only be carried out, I said this already, because

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of the indicative, right?
But it must be carried out because of the indicative.
The indicative and the imperative can be distinguished, but they must not be separated.
The instructions to follow the Spirit's lead are never for Paul ethereal or abstract.
He communicates what life in the Spirit looks like in everyday life.

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Those who follow the Spirit will not permit, for example, a Spirit of conceit and pride
to rule in their lives, nor will they engage in behavior that challenges us, this is 526,
and provokes other people, a good role for social media, right?
Which means that they will not be argumentative and contentious.

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Of course, there are times to speak the truth, right, in love, and not deny that.
At the same time, they will not fall prey to envy, so that they bear grudges against those
who are flourishing.
What Paul says here reminds us of Galatians 5.15, where the readers are warned not to
bite and devour one another.
Animals bite, devour, and consume their prey.

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The word bite, docno, is particularly interesting because it is used regularly of snakes that
bite human beings.
A number of Old Testament references here.
Biting and critical words that tear down others, I'm getting this from the snake imagery, are
satanic.
Believers are not walking in the Spirit when they use their tongues to attack, tear down

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and demonize others.
The social dimension of walking in the Spirit comes to the forefront again.
Next heading, corporate and individual responsibility in the Spirit.
Paul continues to reflect on life in the Spirit in Galatians 6.1 through 10.
He refers to those who are spiritual in 6.1.

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The spiritual have a responsibility to restore those who have fallen into sin.
We might think that the spiritual ones refer to elite Christians, to believers who live
particularly godly lives, but the emphasis on the Spirit in 5.16 through 6.10 leads to
another conclusion.

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All believers, without exception, are spiritual, which means that all believers are endowed
by and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Thus, the admonition isn't restricted to a part of the congregation.
On the other hand, the admonition to restore those who have fallen into a trespass reveals

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that life in the Spirit is complicated, that those who have the Spirit may wander into
sin.
Similarly, those who are spiritual must also be on guard against temptation, since sin
is deceptive in attacks and ways we don't anticipate.
Fine others who have fallen may become a platform for pride, and we may end up falling into

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sin ourselves.
Thus believers are admonished to restore with gentleness those who have transgressed.
Linking back to 5.23 where gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit.
Harshness, arrogance, and disdain are to be avoided at all costs.
John Barclay in his important book on obedience in Galatians, I mentioned that book earlier,

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Reveying the Truth, remarks on the interplay between the individual and the community that
characterizes Paul's exhortations in the last part of the letter.
This dynamic shows up in Galatians 6.1-5.
Concern for others is reflected in the call to bear one another's burdens, showing that
life in the Spirit is communitarian and social.

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Such a reminder is needed since evangelical Christians, especially in the West, tend to
privatize what it means to live faithfully as believers, so that individual piety can
be sundered from life in the Church.
I don't know your situation as well, but this is a huge problem in the United States.

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At the same time, we must be aware of thinking only in communitarian terms and neglecting
individual responsibility.
Paul warns believers once again of pride in 6.3, which manifests itself when we think that
we are something, although in reality we are nothing before God.

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We're not living quorum God, right, but quorumed out if we think we're something.
Perhaps Paul gives this admonition right after telling us to carry one another's burdens
because we're tempted to think when we help others that we're quite gifted.
Just striking that Paul returns again in 526 to the danger of pride.
I already mentioned, I have it here, I didn't have it in my manuscript, but I mentioned

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that famous quote from C.S. Lewis, if you were here the other day, in his convicting
chapter on pride in his book, Mere Christianity.
For a little relatively ancient history, it was reading that chapter that brought Chuck
Coulson to faith.
If you've never heard of Chuck Coulson, ask somebody who he was later.

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Lewis remarks that if you think you are not conceited, it means you're very conceited
indeed.
Perhaps we could rephrase this.
If you think you're not tempted by conceit, you are very unlikely to be a victim of it.
Paul has been emphasizing our corporate responsibility to one another, but then in Galatians 6.4 he

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shifts the focus to the individual.
As believers, we're summoned to test and examine our own lives.
Paul may be anticipating a false conclusion from community life.
We need each other, and we rely in so many ways on the help of others.
Still, at the end of the day, each one of us is responsible for his or her own life.

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We can't excuse the weaknesses and sins we have committed by claiming others didn't help
us as they should have.
In our cultural moment, we are inclined to defend ourselves by saying we're victims.
And by the way, I don't deny, all of us are also victims of the sins of others.

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That's true, isn't it?
I always say, my kids, partially because I'm a sinful parent, they're victims in part,
and that's true of every one of us, of my sinful patterns as a parent.
But finally, there's no excuse.

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We must examine our own lives objectively to discern whether we're really following
the Lord.
Paul then turns to the final day, to the day of reward, quite an interesting verse.
Speaking of believers boasting, as he does in 6.4, sounds very strange, especially since

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Paul claims in 6.14 that he only boasts in the cross of Christ, just a few verses later.
And yet here, in 6.4, he speaks of boasting in oneself.
It is hard to imagine a conception more alien to the message of relations.
In fact, the false teachers are indicted for boasting in 6.13.

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What we need to remember is that Paul is a coherent writer, and he doesn't contradict
what he writes a few verses later, nor does he contradict the message of the entire letter,
which is that human beings can't boast of their works before God, as if their works
could accomplish salvation.
The boasting Paul has in mind here is eschatological.

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A boasting that will take place on the day of judgment, the day of final reward.
Elsewhere, Paul uses this word boasting to refer to that final reward.
There is a kind of boasting exaltation.
I think we could misunderstand that word, surely.
But we see this in 1 Corinthians 9, 15 and 16 uses this word.

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In 1 Corinthians 114, Philippians 2, 16, 1 Thessalonians 2, 19, so he can speak in terms
of our final reward as a kind of boasting.
So to here in 6.4, in my judgment, the final reward believers will receive is in view.

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We notice that Paul emphasizes that each of us will be rewarded individually and personally.
The reward will not be based on what others do, but what we ourselves have done.
We would misinterpret the word boasting if we understood it as a reception of a reward
based on our autonomous work.

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Our boasting on that last day is a result of God's gracious and transforming work in
us.
And yet at the same time, we are rewarded for how we have lived.
I think Augustine said something like, right, God crowns His own work in us, so to speak.
And even that reward is of grace.

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So we see the delicate tension between divine sovereignty and human responsibility.
We find a similar tension in Philippians 2, 12 and 13 where Paul teaches that we work
out our own salvation, but in the final analysis, our work is the result of God's work in us
because He gives us the very desire to do the will of God and the energy to carry it

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out.
The emphasis on the individual continues in Galatians 6-5 where we find a proverbial-like
statement that each person will carry his own load.
Earlier, he said, bear one another's burdens.
Here he says, each person, each person should carry their own load.

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This could be understood as referring to what should happen in everyday life in the sense
that each of us should take responsibility for our own actions.
And of course, I agree with that in principle.
The proverbial-like saying would stand in contrast or perhaps better in tandem with
6-2 where we are to carry one another's burdens.

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More likely, however, the future tense will carry, bastadze doesn't refer to this life,
but to the final judgment.
We find that same verb in 5-10.
The one who is troubling you, false teacher here, the one who is troubling you will bear
bastadze, same verb, will bear the penalty, whoever he is.

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There's no doubt in this latter verse that the penalty refers to the final judgment.
And the same verb in the same tense in 6-5 probably points forward to the future day.
I suggest above that 6-4 refers to the last day as well.
If this is the case, Paul calls on believers to assist and help one another in this life

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while recognizing that at the final judgment, each one of us will stand individually before
God and we will be evaluated and rewarded for what we have done.
Generosity by the Spirit.
The interplay between corporate and individual responsibility continues in Galatians 6-6-10.

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Those who are taught the Word, that is, those who are being instructed, are to support financially
those who are teaching them.
A very exciting word for pastors, isn't it?
The individual who benefits from the teaching of God's Word should see to it that those
teaching have sufficient resources to live their lives and study God's Word.

(37:07):
The notion that teachers should be supported is a common theme in Paul's letter 1 Corinthians
9, 1 Timothy 5, 17, and 18.
It is evident that there are teachers or leaders in the community in Galatia who had a special
responsibility to instruct the saints, and this fits with other references in the Pauling
Corpus.
So, interestingly, Paul doesn't call them elders, does he?

(37:29):
He doesn't mention an office, but he talks about teachers here who are leaders.
Paul isn't constrained to always use the same terminology when he talks about leaders, but
it coheres, I think, with what we see elsewhere in Paul.
Paul zeroes in on the responsibility of individual believers using the singular in Galatians 6,

(37:51):
7, and 8.
The image of sowing and reaping describes the activity demanded of believers.
Elsewhere in Paul, sowing and reaping are used in financial contexts.
1 Corinthians 9, 11, 2 Corinthians 9, 6, and 9, 10.
1, 6, 6, supporting teachers financially, it seems to me that such a notion, by which

(38:17):
I mean a financial notion, continues here, and the necessity of generosity continues
through 6, 10.
Still, we should probably not limit sowing and reaping the generosity, and it probably
includes the whole of our lives as well.
In 6, 7, the seriousness of the exhortation is underscored, as Paul warns the readers

(38:39):
about self-deceit and the danger of mocking God in the way they live.
Once again, the final judgment seems to be in mind.
Everyone will reap what they sow, and a letter that emphasizes God's grace and engages in
a polemic against works of the law, it is really quite remarkable how Paul emphasizes

(39:02):
so ardently the necessity of a moral life.
Galatians 6, 8, that's a very important explanation.
Those who will be corrupted will be judged because they have sown to the flesh.
Those who have lived for their own selfish advantage instead of doing the will of God.

(39:24):
We're reminded that those who will receive an eschatological reward, which is described
here as eternal life, so I think the corruption is final destruction, right?
We are reminded that those who will receive an eschatological reward, which is described
as eternal life, do so by the Spirit.
Human beings do not have the capacity for righteous living apart from God's dynamic

(39:45):
Spirit, who strengthens us in every good work.
Furthermore, there is no doubt that one's eschatological destiny is at stake, since,
I already said this, Paul contrasts corruption with eternal life in 6A.
Those who give in to the flesh will face end time corruption, final judgment, while those
who sow to the Spirit will enjoy life in the age to come.

(40:08):
God's judgment is fitting since those who sow to the flesh reap what the flesh gives,
namely judgment.
Whereas those who sow to the Spirit reap what the Spirit gives, namely eternal life.
The difficulty of life in this world is acknowledged as Paul recognizes in Galatians 6-9 that believers

(40:29):
may be tempted to grow weary and cease doing what is good.
Doing good probably continues the theme of helping others financially.
Though once again it probably has a broader meaning as well, referring to doing good in
general.
The motivation for continuing to do good is the final judgment, which is again described

(40:52):
as a future reaping.
Sowing continues as long as life lasts, but a day of reaping is coming when believers
will be rewarded for the good they have done, while those who give themselves to evil will
face judgment.
Paul rounds off this whole discussion in Galatians 6-10.
Life on earth is a time of opportunity, chyrons, a time to make our lives count forever.

(41:18):
He actually plays on the same word that is used in Galatians 6-9.
But in the latter verse it refers to judgment day, to the final time.
We also find in Galatians 5-16 in Colossians 4-5 that the term can mean an opportunity
as Paul encourages believers to make use of every opportunity to do what is good.

(41:41):
In Galatians 6-10, believers are exhorted to do good to all people, and all people includes
unbelievers.
Once again financial assistance is particularly in view, showing that concern for poverty
and the needs of people animated the early Christians.
Still, assistance is to be parceled out especially to the saints, to fellow believers, to what

(42:07):
Paul calls the household of faith, do good to everyone, but especially to the household
of faith.
The focus on fellow believers fits with 1 Timothy 5-3-16, where Paul gives exhortations
about widows who need financial help.
He emphasizes that families, if they have the resources, should help widows before the

(42:30):
latter asks the church for assistance.
The church should only help if the family doesn't have the resources or the widow doesn't have
any family left.
We see that a structure or a pattern for financial assistance, their circles of responsibility
are established.

(42:50):
First families should provide, if possible, for their own needs.
Second, the church should provide for the needs of fellow members.
Third, if there are sufficient resources, then churches should help others outside of
the community of faith.
Conclusion before I do the application.

(43:12):
The new life of believers is life in the Spirit, a life where we walk in the Spirit.
5-18 are directed by the Spirit, led by the Spirit.
5-18 produce the fruit of the Spirit.
5-22 march in step with the Spirit.
5-25 or is it 26?
I don't have the verse there.

(43:32):
And so do the Spirit.
6-8.
The Spirit is a transforming presence in believers, radically reshaping and reformatting our lives.
Instead of the law being the impetus for change, reformation occurs supernaturally through the
power of the Holy Spirit.
Life in the Spirit isn't an abstraction, for we see the difference in everyday life,

(43:55):
particularly in how we treat other people.
This is simply another way of saying that life in the Spirit is marked by love, by concern
for the well-being of others.
The new life of believers is both an individual and a corporate character.
It is corporate in that we share life with others and help and assist them on their journey.

(44:15):
And Paul particularly emphasizes that we care for others financially.
At the same time, the new life is individual in that we stand before God ultimately accountable
for the decisions we make.
No one else can be blamed if our lives do not match what God requires.
But such a calling brings us back to where we started.

(44:36):
We cannot live in a way that pleases God on our own, which is why we need to be justified,
adopted, redeemed, and why we need the Holy Spirit, some application.
So how can we conquer the flesh?

(44:57):
And as Christians, simple desires still plague us.
One of my favorite novels, I've read it several times by Leo Tolstoy, and I love the Russian
novelist.
The hero of the book is Leavan.
Near the end of the book, you know, everybody talks, sorry for the spoiler if you haven't

(45:22):
read this book, but gotta do it, right?
She's significant in the book, but Leavan stands out, he becomes a believer.
When he becomes a believer, Tolstoy describes this in such a beautiful way.
He is filled with overwhelming feelings of peace and joy.

(45:43):
Perhaps if you're a bit older, when you became a Christian, you can relate to that.
At least I can, because I became a believer when I was 17.
He thinks about, all my relationships are going to be transformed now that I believe.
In a reverie, he dreams how wonderful life will be now that he knows God.

(46:05):
But moments later, he gets annoyed with his coachman, and then he gets angry at his wife.
He wonders how that could be after he enjoyed such peace and joy just moments earlier.
Well, we all know how that is.
We can be filled with joy while spending private time with God in the Word and in prayer, and

(46:27):
then a moment later, get irritated with those we love.
Paul explains here, doesn't he?
There's a battle between the flesh and the Spirit.
We see in verse 16 that we must walk in the Spirit.
The only way we can live in freedom is to depend upon the Spirit step by step in our Christian
lives.

(46:47):
We ask the Holy Spirit to help us.
We plead for Him to empower us.
We acknowledge that apart from God, we can do nothing.
We don't have the resources on our own to live a life of love and service to others.
Unbelievers can't do what God requires, because they don't have the Holy Spirit.

(47:11):
Those who are freed by Christ are strengthened to walk by the Spirit, and then we don't gratify
and fulfill the desires of the flesh.
But verse 17 of chapter 5 reminds us this isn't easy.
As Christians, we're not yet perfected.
We still have fleshly desires.
We feel them in us.
The desires of the flesh war against the desires of the Spirit in us.

(47:35):
So our desires shone within us, and the flesh dogs us until the day we die.
Christians do not go away even when we are mature Christians.
That is why David committed adultery after many years of following the Lord.
And I just want to say to those who are in ministry, this is very, very important, isn't

(47:59):
it, to continue to walk with the Lord closely your entire life.
I've…
Several seminary professors I had fell into serious sin.
I won't get into the details.
The Lord preserved me, but it was hard.

(48:20):
My favorite teacher in seminary fell in this significant sin, and that was very difficult
in my life.
I mean, the Lord sustained me, but you influence others as leaders, and if you fall in the
sin, the consequences are significant.
Desires to do what we hate can arise in us.

(48:41):
Maybe you can even think right now of a temptation to resent someone, to be bitter against someone
who has hurt you, to hold a grudge, or to be jealous of someone who has succeeded more
than you, or of sexual temptations that are ever before you.
So, you know, this is great theology, but it's also very practical, right?

(49:03):
We're in a spiritual fight.
We're in a battle with the flesh, but that's not the only reality.
The Holy Spirit dwells in us.
Many wars against the desires of the flesh.
We're in the midst of a battle, though that can be exhausting and innervating and discouraging,
but we're not simply in a stalemate.

(49:24):
We aren't just stuck in the battle between the flesh and the Spirit.
Yes, we do sin, and we fall short in many ways.
Yes, it can be discouraging and even depressing at times.
The process of sanctification can be agonizingly so.
The Bible doesn't teach you just let go and let God, and then suddenly you live on a new
plane.

(49:44):
That's what I was taught as a new Christian, but it doesn't teach perfection.
Still, I would say Paul is fundamentally positive and optimistic about the lives of believers.
That optimism we see in verse 18, where he says that those who are led by the Spirit
are not under the law.
The tyranny, I'm relying on Romans 6 here, the tyranny, mastery and dominion of sin have

(50:09):
ended.
I think those are important words.
The tyranny, mastery and dominion of sin have ended.
Sin is no longer our master.
I like what Francis Schaefer says in his book, True Spirituality.
He says we have significant, substantial, and observable victory.
I think that's a nice way of putting it.

(50:30):
Perfect victory, substantial victory, observable victory, but not perfect victory.
It's still significant.
I don't have this in my notes, but a parenthetical word.
We're not to use this to judge others, right?
I love that story in C.S. Lewis, I forget where it is, where he talks about you look
at a person who's really crabby, who's a Christian, and you're like, wow, that person's, I don't

(50:53):
know if he used the word crabby, but a very, very irritable, crabby person.
You think, wow, they're a bad Christian, but Lewis says, but maybe, maybe they've come
farther than you because they were even more crabby before, right?
So we're not to use this to judge where others are.

(51:14):
We may fall again and again, but we keep getting back up by repenting of our sin, and then
we fight against sin another day.
We slowly grow and become more like Christ.
And how does it happen?
I just say again, 516, walk in the Spirit, 518, be led by the Spirit, 522, it's the
fruit of the Spirit, 525, march and step with the Spirit, 680, sow to the Spirit, and Ephesians

(51:40):
518, be filled with the Spirit.
That means we give ourselves to God, we give ourselves to the Spirit every day and ask
Him to empower us.
The Lord reminds us every day, He is everything and we are nothing.
As Paul says, by the grace of God, I am what I am.
So we only live in freedom by the Spirit.

(52:00):
May God give us the grace to be conformed to the image of His Son from glory to glory
by the power of the Spirit.
I want to tell you one more story as I close.
I went to a secular university in Oregon.
It was a small little school.
This was in the early 1970s, kind of interestingly, almost all the teachers I had were Marxist,

(52:25):
but they weren't all, but a lot of them were.
But I had a very small class in literature and the professor, he could speak in a Shakespearean
sort of way.
He was very remarkable.
But there were only 20 or 30 people in the class.
And one day he said to the class, how many of you believe in the devil?

(52:51):
And there were maybe five or six of us who raised our hands.
And then he pointed to one of the students who raised his hand and he said, do you think
God lives in you?
And the student said, yes, God lives in me.
And the professor said, that must be wonderful.

(53:11):
It wasn't sounding sarcastic because that must be amazing to have God living in you.
That has to be a remarkable thing.
And the student said it is.
And then the professor said, you can imagine this.
He said, I'm skeptical.
He said, I'm even skeptical of being skeptical.
That was the end of what he said.

(53:32):
But I want to close by saying, what he said is true.
We have the Holy Spirit in us.
It's an amazing and wonderful gift.
We praise God that we have the Spirit to help us live in a way that praises Him.
Thank you.
We're going to let Tom catch his breath for a moment and have a sip of water or something

(54:05):
like that.
How are you feeling?
I'm feeling good.
Good.
OK, well, we've got some questions on the Slido app if you've been able to do that.
And I thought we might start with questions about the work of the Spirit in the Old Testament.
What's the difference between the Spirit's work in the faith and regeneration of Old

(54:25):
Testament people and the newness of the Spirit's work from Pentecost onwards?
Specifically, were Old Testament believers able to bear the fruit of the Spirit?
Were they regenerated in dwell led by the Spirit?
That is an excellent question and a difficult question.

(54:47):
I've thought about this a lot over the years.
So one of my students, PhD student, maybe you know his work, Jim Hamilton, he wrote
his dissertation on this subject under me.
And he has a book published.
I forget what it's called.
It's something like he is with you and not in you.

(55:07):
But Jim argued, and I think this is as good of answer as any.
You can sense my tentativeness, but Jim argued that Old Testament saints are regenerated
but not in dwelt.
So that might be the best answer.
I've always struggled with this question because surely Daniel or Joseph exhibited

(55:36):
the fruit of the Spirit, we could say, right?
They lived very, very godly lives.
So I suppose another way of saying it is perhaps you could argue that the remnant is both regenerated
and in dwelt.
But at the end of the day, I'm not exactly sure what the best answer is.

(55:57):
I do think, you know, there are texts that are just difficult.
I haven't resolved this totally in my own mind, but it is interesting that John the
Baptist, right, he says, I can't give you the Spirit.
Jesus is going to have to do that.
So that kind of leans me back in Jim's direction that the indwelling of the Spirit is a new

(56:23):
covenant gift, but we see regeneration, which Jim identifies as the circumcision of the
heart by the Spirit in the Old Testament.
So yeah, that's the best I can do, I think.
Is that why we're able to speak about Abraham and the other saints of Hebrews 11 having

(56:45):
faith if faith is a gift to the Spirit, do you think?
Yeah, yeah, I think that's right.
I understand faith to be the product of regeneration, right?
I mean, there are debates on that even in our community.
I don't know what you all think, but I think regeneration precedes faith.
So I think that's what's going on.

(57:06):
Of course, in the Old Testament, I didn't speak of this dimension, the Spirit comes
on people, on kings and prophets and priests and leaders for ministry as well.
And of course, we see that in the New Testament as well.
I think when Jesus is baptized, that when the Spirit comes on him, obviously Jesus lived
a perfect life before that, but the Spirit is coming on him and his baptism and anointing

(57:30):
him for ministry.
And I think that's borne out by Luke for 16 and following the Spirit of the Lord has
anointed him for ministry.
And we see that pattern in the Old Testament as well.
Of course, the Spirit is uniquely and distinctively rests upon Jesus.

(57:51):
If you move on to the Spirit's role in the Christian life, in verse 18, we are led passive
by the Spirit, verse 25, we keep in step active with the Spirit.
How do you reconcile this tension in the Christian life?
Yes, I think that's a good observation.

(58:14):
I think we'd say, how do we formulate what it means to live under the power of God?
There's a passive sense, and yet there's a sense in which we choose.
And finally, I think we cannot fully articulate what this looks like.

(58:36):
Isn't this the same tension with divine sovereignty and human responsibility?
I take God as sovereign over everything, Proverbs 16 and 33, even where the dice lands.
So we're describing a supernatural reality, and it's really beyond our ability to fully

(58:56):
comprehend and articulate every dimension of it.
Yet we can say we need the Spirit, passive, and yet we must choose to march in step with
the Spirit.
But both dimensions of reality are true, and we ought not to pit them against each other

(59:16):
finally.
They fit together just as Philippians 2, 12 and 13 says.
But literally, God's a mind, accomplish your own salvation.
That's what it says.
But then he says, for it is God who works in you both to will and to work on behalf

(59:37):
of his good pleasure.
Finally, it's not our choice.
So I think we see this tension regularly in the scripture between human choices and actions
in divine power.
There's a number of questions about the relation of the Spirit and the law.

(59:58):
So what is the place of instructions in the Christian life now that we have the Spirit?
What is the boundary or distinction between New Testament instructions and the law, particularly
when we have expressions that we're not under the law, but we're being led by the Spirit?
When Paul says we're not under the law, I think he's thinking redemptive historically.

(01:00:19):
So I don't think Paul means that life in the Spirit is a life bereft of commands and instructions.
So I'm not going to use the word law here, but I think of, so we think of someone like
F.F.
Bruce, an outstanding scholar who contributed so much.

(01:00:40):
But Bruce emphasizes in his reading of Paul that essentially it's life in the Spirit,
and we don't, at least his emphasis is such that we don't really need commands.
What we do is we just follow the Spirit.
I would argue, however, that is not faithful to what Paul actually communicates in his

(01:01:08):
letters.
Paul doesn't give us a mission.
We don't have detailed instructions, but there are a lot of commands.
Even specific commands.
I like this book.
Do you know this book by Thomas Dayden, New Covenant Morality?
He's a Roman Catholic.
It's in the Anilectic Biblical series.

(01:01:29):
I think that's an excellent book.
And I actually like some of the things Wolfgang Schrager has written on this as well, his
dissertation.
I mean, it's in German, but it's a really excellent, that's a really concrete individual
commandments in the Pauline Paraniesis.
And what Schrager and Dayden argue, and I agree with them, is that Paul views life in

(01:01:49):
the Spirit and the giving of commands as harmonious.
Therefore, commands do not in and of themselves stifle life in the Spirit.
I don't think that's what Paul was saying when he says we're not justified by the law.
Actually, God uses commands in the life of the Regenerate to assist us in our walk with

(01:02:10):
God.
Of course, the response is that I can do this in my own strength, but for example, Paul
can say, for Corinthians 6, to those who have the Spirit, don't commit sexual immorality.
That's a very specific command.
And he says your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
He doesn't view life in the Spirit as such that commands are unnecessary.

(01:02:36):
So when he's speaking of being under the law, I think he particularly has in mind being
unregenerate, being in the old era of redemptive history.
So if I can say one more thing, I think the same is true of the saved remnant in the Old
Testament, Psalm 19, Psalm 119, the law, the law when it's working in conjunction with

(01:03:00):
the Spirit, it assists us in our Christian life.
They work together in a positive way, I think.
Pushing a little into your own experience and reflections on, I guess, your scene, not
being as familiar with ours.

(01:03:21):
Do you think that the struggle today is more with legalism or antinomianism?
Is our temptation in evangelical circles to neglect grace or to neglect good works?
How strangely do they actually work together?
That is an excellent question.

(01:03:41):
Yeah, I think my inclination is to think it's always both.
There's a danger of legalism.
There's a danger of antinomianism.
At any particular time, we may be going in one direction or the other, but I think both
are, we can fall short on both.

(01:04:05):
And yeah, I think it's paradoxical, isn't it?
But in some antinomian circles, they don't emphasize grace sufficiently, remarkably,
paradoxically.
Another interesting question, this time on the fruit of the Spirit.
Can we differentiate between the fruit of the Spirit coming from a Christian and a non-Christian

(01:04:29):
person?
That's because non-Christians can display what's included in the list.
Or someone puts it even more pointedly, some of my non-Christian friends display more fruit
of the Spirit than me.
How is this existent if they don't have the Spirit?
Yeah, your non-Christian friends don't manifest the fruit of the Spirit.

(01:04:51):
So that's the first thing I'd say.
It's the fruit of the Spirit.
They don't have the Spirit.
So whatever fruit they have is not of the Spirit.
So we can just say that dogmatically.
It isn't the fruit of the Spirit.
So what can we say?
What's the theological judgment?
Paul says whatever is not a faith is sin.
So that's 1423.

(01:05:13):
I think that is a maxim.
Paul says that anything we do where we're not giving thanks and praise to God is idolatry.
Or yes, there are non-Christians who do things that externally conform to what is right and
good and have characteristics that are pleasing to us, but they're actually not the fruit

(01:05:36):
of the Spirit.
They are sinful in the sense they're not the fruit of the Spirit.
They're done for their own glory, whether they recognize it or not, and they're not
done in faith.
So yes, externally, they were brought up in a good family.
They've been influenced from their culture in various ways that are pleasing, but it's

(01:05:58):
not the fruit of the Spirit.
So I think we'd all agree.
Yeah, we had a neighbor in Minnesota when we lived there for 11 years.
She was the nicest person, besides my wife, of course, that I've ever met.
And she wasn't a believer, though.

(01:06:19):
And what does the Bible say?
She's an idolater.
She's so nice.
I don't deny that.
She's nicer than me.
You hung out with me or her, you'd like her better.
But it's not the fruit of the Spirit there.
Thanks.
Just to elaborate a little more generally on the things that you were saying, could you

(01:06:45):
please elaborate on the idea of eschatological reward and levels of reward, for instance,
one, two, three.
How does that square with the idea that this is all done by God and by His Spirit?
So when I was speaking of reward in this lecture, I thought this question would come.

(01:07:07):
Actually, I was surprised I hadn't heard it yet, but I thought it would come.
I believe the reward, the reward I was speaking of, is eternal life.
I wasn't thinking of levels of reward.
So the reward, what I would say about the reward of eternal life, it's a gift, isn't

(01:07:28):
it?
It's a gift, but our lives accord with that gift given to us.
And if I were to speak of it theologically, the good works we do are the fruit and the
evidence that we truly have that life.
So we're not mariting anything.
We're not earning eternal life.

(01:07:50):
But I think Paul says our works accord with the new life that we've been given and demonstrate
the reality of that new life.
Now whether there are levels of reward, I think that is a very difficult question.

(01:08:11):
I go back and forth on this.
I'd love to hear from any of you, but I'm attracted to an essay by Craig Blomberg, where
Craig argues that all those texts are talking about eternal life and there is no individual
separate reward.
Now people go to 1 Corinthians 3, right?

(01:08:35):
But I think those verses are not talking about individual Christians per se, but about ministers
of the gospel who build on the foundation.
And the reward there isn't the way I understand it, an extra reward above and beyond eternal
life.
The reward there is the joy of the fruit that we see in the lives of others.

(01:09:00):
So at least in my mind, we don't have evidence of, oh, there's other levels of, you know,
this person's here and this is another person's lower than that.
But I know a lot of people disagree with that and I've actually thought of writing a book
on this, but then I think, oh, well, maybe I'm not seeing things very clearly.

(01:09:25):
So maybe that's not a good idea.
A more personal question, you've been working on this book for some time and you had your
head in Galatians.
What have you learned and how have you grown as a result of your reading and study of Galatians?
Well, actually, I would say, yeah, where do I start?

(01:09:53):
So maybe I should just start this way.
I was pretty much converted through reading books like Galatians and Romans because I
was raised as a Catholic to believe you were justified or saved on account of your works.

(01:10:14):
Right?
No, it's not that I really cared.
I wasn't seeking God.
I was no Luther, right?
But so right from the beginning, the gospel, which I had never encountered until I was
17, had a huge effect on my life and then in terms of my dissertation, which I did on

(01:10:35):
circumcision.
So I was looking at the relationship between the old and new covenants and then I wrote
a book on the law in 1991 and I did a Romans commentary, an Agalatians commentary.
So I would say this message is very precious to me because I'm reminded daily, and I think

(01:10:58):
the Lord is still teaching me this, that what Luther said is true.
We are beggars.
That's what he said near death, right?
We are beggars.
This is true.
And that's helped me because I'm tempted to look at my own resources and my own strength
and to depend on that.

(01:11:19):
And the gospel reminds me I need God's help.
I need supernatural help.
I need the Holy Spirit.
I need to remember that it is God who saved me, not what I have done.
What Luther said is true.
You heard that?
He's actually on a note on his bedside table when he died.

(01:11:41):
Anyway, all the way to the side.
Have you got enough energy for a couple more?
Couple more specific things.
Somebody's asked, I've heard people argue that Galatians 6-3 refers to people in ministry
specifically.
What do you think about that?
I've never heard that before.
That's interesting.

(01:12:02):
I don't know what I think of it.
Probably have to hear more about it.
But I read a lot on Galatians, but I don't remember seeing that before.
But it's always possible that I saw it and I forgot it.
Bill Mounds, this is not answering the question, but I love this story.

(01:12:25):
When Bill Mounds, my friend, was teaching at Gordon Conwell with Moises Selva, I relate
to this story.
He went to Moises, because Moises wrote a commentary on Philippians, and he said, Moises,
what do you think of this verse?
What is your understanding of this verse in Philippians 3 or whatever it was?
And Moises said, I forgot.

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Okay.
Another one.
In Galatians 3, there's a connection between Christian faith receiving the Spirit and miraculous
activity.
Should we expect that same sort of connection today?
Well, new life by the Spirit is always miraculous.

(01:13:11):
Yes.
I wrote a book on spiritual gifts, what they are and why they matter, and I think there
are redemptive historical differences.
Many wonderful people disagree with me here, but I think there are redemptive historical
differences between what was happening in the New Testament and apostolic era and what

(01:13:34):
happens today.
I think there are good reasons for that.
That's a longer answer than I can give here.
But so I think there's a redemptive historical particularity to that era that isn't replicated
today in precisely the same way.
But new life from the Spirit is always supernatural and miraculous.

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You served us very well, not only with a lecture, but in answering questions, but there's one
more that loads of people want to know, which is, would you be willing to convert to Anglicanism
if we could find your job as a bishop?
Well, given my Catholic background, can I get a copy of this book?

(01:14:23):
Can I be Pope?
Please join me in thanking Dr Schreiner.
Have there been a great series of lectures and question times, haven't there?
Well, that brings this series of lectures to an end.

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I should just give you some advanced news that next year, the annual lectures will be delivered
by our own Dr Peter Orr.
Now, precisely the reaction I was hoping for.
And his topic will be a biblical theology of faith.
Let's finish our time with prayer and then go off to morning tea.

(01:15:09):
Father, thank you for the gospel of the Lord Jesus.
Thank you for freedom and forgiveness that we have been set in the right by you, declared
to be right by you, the judge, and that we, with freedom and with confidence, can call
you Father and live as your people.

(01:15:30):
We thank you for this epistle, the epistle to the Galatians, and we thank you for our
brother who has come and expounded it to us.
We pray for your continued blessing upon him and Diane and their family as they continue
to travel and as he has a busy regime of lectures next week in Queensland.

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We pray that you might give him the energy that he needs and that you might encourage
him as he encourages others.
We pray, Heavenly Father, that the things that we have learned this week, we might continue
to meditate upon and that they might shape the way we live as your people.
And we ask, Father, that in all that we do here at college and elsewhere, wherever we

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might be, we might honour him whom you sent so that we might be forgiven.
And we pray in his name.
Amen.
Amen.
Thank you for listening to the Moore College podcast.

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Our vision as a college is to see God glorified by men and women living for and proclaiming
Jesus Christ, growing healthy churches and reaching the lost.
We invite you to attend any of our upcoming events, including this one that is taking
place at Moore College.
The letter to the Hebrews encourages us with the account of the great cloud of Old Testament
witnesses.
The Moore College archives encourage us with some of the witness of people of more modern

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times who have stepped out in faith and served God in Tanzania.
How do they encourage and challenge us today?
What shaped their faith?
What shaped their passions?
What were their aims and mission?
The Donald Robertson Library at Moore Theological College is hosting an event on Wednesday the
9th of October with the Reverend Dr Colin Reed, who will be speaking on the topic of “A Cloud

of Witnesses (01:17:23):
Australian Anglicans in Tanzania”.
Colin grew up in Africa and served as a missionary in Tanzania with CMS, the Church Missionary
Society, along with his wife Wendy.
He has worked on staff at the New South Wales and ACT branch of CMS and as Principal of
St Andrews Hall.
Join us in person or via livestream on Wednesday 9th of October to hear Colin speak on the

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history of the church in East Africa.
You can find out more about our events and register by going to the Moore College website.
That's moore.edu.au.
If you have not already done so, we encourage you to subscribe to our podcast through your

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favourite podcast platform so that you'll never miss an episode.
For past episodes, further resources, and to make a tax-deductible donation to support
the work of the College and its mission, please visit our website at moore.edu.au.
If you found this episode helpful, please share it with a friend and leave a review

(01:18:27):
on your platform of choice.
We always benefit from feedback from our listeners, so if you'd like to get in touch, you can
email us at [e-mail].
The Moore College podcast was edited and produced by me, Karen Beilharz, and the communications
team at Moore Theological College.

(01:18:48):
The music for our podcast was provided by MarkJuly from Pixabay.
Until next time.